Transmigrated as a Ghost

Chapter 1043: Chapter 1043 The Brigands’ Ruthless Plan (2)

Not long after Marcus noticed the incoming people and monsters a loud scream erupted from the woods and one of the human signals he was detecting with his life sense skill vanished.

Naturally several people close to the front of the caravan noticed the echoing shriek of pain and fear.

Confusion set in first but was quickly followed by a wave of panic that was swiftly flowing through the caravan.

To make matters worse another howl of anguish came just a couple seconds later.

"Everyone stay calm. Some people running this way are being chased by monsters, but we will make sure to protect all of you." Marcus said, trying to calm people down.

Thankfully, his status as a mithril rank adventurer did give everyone a sense of security and they looked towards him and Mrazivý with hope in their eyes.

The other guards that had been momentarily shocked by the screams came back to their senses and helped to keep people calm and got into defensive positions.

'Lilia, how is it going in the back?' Marcus asked over telepathy to get an understanding of the entire situation.

'Alaric and I have managed to keep them mostly calm, but a few curious people left their vehicles and are trying to get a closer look at what is going on. I'd recommend that you keep an eye out for any idiots that leave the vicinity of the caravan.'

Marcus thanked Lilia for the update and then contacted Roxene who was currently guarding the upper parts of the middle of the caravan, and Miguel who was in the lower middle.

Once everyone was updated, he strained his eyes and carefully looked through the gaps in the trees to see the people running towards them as well as the monsters giving chase.

'What the hell?!'

The moment Marcus spotted the first of the people charging at the caravan, he was completely baffled by their appearance. The man wasn't wearing a shirt but instead was smeared with fresh blood and had several cuts of recently butchered meat hanging from his neck like a grotesque scarf.

With just the one quick look Marcus could see that absolute terror on the man's face as he ran for his life from whatever horrifying monster was chasing him.

Then a second later, Marcus was able to see the other two remaining men that were trailing behind in a similar sate to the first man.

Still despite his life sense skill detecting multiple monsters trailing the three men, Marcus did not see them right away. Not until one pounced on the slowest of the three men.

From out of nowhere, a three-meter-tall bipedal monster covered in moss dropped out of the trees and landed on one of the men.

Its unnaturally long arms compared to its body lashed out at the man and impaled him with its sharp claws.

With its prey secured the monster jumped back onto one of the giant trees and swiftly dragged the now dead man up into the canopy.

"Marcus, that monster is called a moss troll. Its level twenty-four and its stats are focused on strength and agility. Of course, it also has the annoying race abilities that all trolls have." Mrazivý said, having used her Dragon Eyes to appraise the monster the instant it came into view.

Marcus grimaced when he heard what it was they were dealing with. A single troll would be easily enough to beat, but his life sense skill was picking up several dozen. Many of which felt stronger than the one that had just shown itself.

At the very least they finally knew how the brigands planned on attacking them. Marcus had recognized the fastest of the men as part of the groups that had been keeping constant watch on the caravan since they left Houten's capital.

"To think that they would sick a bunch of trolls on us by using their own people as bait. That's not something someone with any morals would do." Mrazivý said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, that's true, but most people with morals don't become murderous thieves that kill people on the road. I'm more surprised that they came up with a somewhat intelligent plan. If we weren't here, the caravan would definitely be wiped out." Marcus replied without any urgency in his voice.

While this would be a massive threat to most people, less than a hundred monsters under level forty weren't going to be enough to challenge Marcus or any of his companions. Though since the monsters were trolls, they would at least be annoying due to their tenacity.

As the second of the last three surviving brigands acting as bait was scooped up by another troll, the fastest man finally reached the caravan and attempted to rush past without stopping.

However, before he could get by, Marcus stepped in front of him and casually extend his foot to trip the man.

In a comical display the man that had been running at full speed fell face first into the ground and bounced off it a couple of times like a stone skipping across water.

If not for the fact that the man was a member of a group that wanted to kill everyone in the caravan and then plunder their goods, Marcus might have actually felt bad for what he had just done.

Nevertheless, he checked to make sure that this final runner was not injured enough to be dying since he had questions, he wanted to ask the man later.

Yet when he was focused on the health of the man, a single moss troll jumped down from one of the tree branches hanging overhead and aimed to grab the defenseless prey that had just fallen over.

Before the troll had even descended half of the way to the ground though, its large body split vertically in half.

A doze liters of disgusting looking orange blood spilled out of both halves of the monster and drenched the brigade that had been used as bait to lure the trolls towards the caravan.

"Thanks for getting that one, Mraz. I got a bit distracted for a second."

"No need to thank me, just finish it off already. It smells horrible." Mrazivý said, her unsheathed sword in one hand and her other hand clenching her nose shut.

Unfortunately, despite being cut in half, the troll was not dead and was already moving to put itself back together.

This was the most annoying part of dealing with trolls. Their regeneration was among the strongest in the world and they would not die unless certain conditions were met. Even if its body was turned into mincemeat, it would still eventually regenerate.

Luckily, Marcus had the most common and easiest way to defeat trolls at his command.

"Fire shot."

Casting the tier one fire magic spell, Marcus ignited the bisected troll's body.

Like tender soaked in oil the troll went up in flames almost immediately. Its body was incredibly flammable and would be reduced to ashes in less than a minute.

Still, they had only taken care of a single troll, and with his life sense skill, Marcus could tell that the large tribe that had been lured her had spread out among the trees and surrounded the caravan.